Strike plate mortising tool



June 25, 1963 .v E. L. SCHLAGE ETAL I I STRIKE PLATE MORTISING 'rooz. Original Filed April 13, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 Q ME m mm F WWW 3 m. ILM H m... MW m B 4 MWM+WM June 1963 E. L SCHLAGE ETAL 3,0 5,0

STRIKE PLATE MORTISING TOOL Original Filed April 13, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS.

ERNEST L. SCHLAGE BY ARMIN H. GREEN 6% 77 hm/Mc- June 25, 1963 E. L. SCHLAGE ETAL 2 STRIKE PLATE MORTISING TOOL Original Filed April 13, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS.

ST L. SCH GE MIN H. 6R

6 44M *mym' wnd United States Patent M 3,095,021 STRIKE PLATE MORTISING TOOL Ernest L. Schlage, Burlingame, and Armin H. Green,

San Mateo, Calif., assignors to Schlage Lock Company, a corporation Original application Apr. 13, 1959, Ser. No. 805,819, now Patent No. 3,057,053, dated Oct. 9, 1962. Divided and this application Apr. 28, 1961, Ser. No. 92,096

2 Claims. (Cl. 145-25) This application is a division of application Serial No. 805,819 filed April 13, 1959 now Patent No. 3,057,053, dated October 9, 1962.

The invention relates to a strike for a door and particularly to an apparatus for installing a strike plate and its associated box.

The main object of the invention is the pro-vision of an improved means for installing a strike plate and strike box on a doorjamb in an accurate manner.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a tool for forming the mortise that receives the strike or strike plate and which tool is foolproof in operation requiring only a minimum amount of judgment by the user.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be seen from the following specification and from the drawangs:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of one form of strike box made in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective of a portion of a doorjamb prepared to receive the strike and strike box.

FIG. 3 is a perspective similar to FIG. 2 showing the strike box of FIG. 1 installed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective similar to FIG. 2 showing the strike installed over the strike box.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective of the various elements of the mortise forming and locating tool.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross section of the assembled tool about to be applied to a doorjamb.

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross section of the assembled tool showing the same applied thereto in mortise cutting position.

FIG. 8 is a perspective of a doorjamb showing schematically the various markings involved in the invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective of the assembled tool.

In detail, and with reference first to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 8, the invention is adapted to be employed in a door installation that includes a doorjamb 1 provided with a doorstep 2. It will be understood that the door (not shown) swings from a doorjamb opposite jamb 1 and one face of the door fits, in its closed position, against the face 3 of the stop 2 with the opposite face of the door usually substantially coplanar with the face 4 of the jamb 1.

By the present invention a conventional relatively shallow strike mortise 7 is formed in jamb 1, having upper and lower sides 8, 9 respectively and front and rear sides 10, 11 respectively.

A strike 14 (FIG. 4) is adapted to be received within the mortise shown in FIG. 2 and the depth of said mortise is equal to the thickness of the strike 14 so that the outer face of the latter is coplanar with the face 5 of jamb 1.

Strike 14 is provided with an integral lip 15 which is curved to cam the latch bolt (not shown) to an inner retracted position relative to the door as the door approaches closed position.

To accommodate said lip 15 the mortise (FIG. 2) is enlarged to provide a channel portion 16 extending from the front side 10 of the mortise to the front face 4 of jamb 1. Said channel portion 16 is defined by upper side 17 and lower side 18.

The bottom 19 of the mortise 7 is provided with a central recess generally designated 20 which is adapted 3,095,021 Patented June 25, 1963 to receive the latch bolt of the door therein when the latter is in closed position. The method of forming recess 20 will now be described.

As best seen in FIG. 8, the operation of installing the strike and strike box is commenced by establishing a point 25 of the face 5 of jamb 1. This point 25 should be on the central axis of the latch bolt of the door when the door is closed and may be marked by means of a marking tool such as that illustrated on Russel Patent No. 2,638,682. Said reference patent illustrates a method of marking point 25 so that the same is on the axis of the bore that receives the latch bolt which axis, of course, corresponds to the central axis of the latch bolt.

By means of a tool, which will subsequently be described, a pair of points 26, 27 are then established at equal distances above and below point 25. A boring bit is then applied to points 26, 27 successively and holes are bored with said points as centers and to the desired depth of recess 20. Since the bores intersect in the example shown in FIG. 2 the small portions of the jamb remaining between the bores indicated schematically by dotted lines 28, 29 in FIG. 2 are readily removed by a chisel.

The recess 20 thus formed is provided with a pair of vertically extending parallel sidewalls 32, 33 and upper and lower semicylind-rical endwalls 34, 35 respectively.

Said recess 20 is adapted to receive therein a strike box 36 such as that illustrated in FIG. 1. Said box is formed from relatively thin material such as sheet steel and includes a bottom 37, opposite sidewalls 38, 39 and upper and lower endwalls 40, 41.

Integral with upper and lower endwalls 40, 41 are lugs 46, 47 respectively which are adapted to fit against the bottom 19 of mortise 7 when the box is received in recess 20 as seen in FIG. 3. As an additional positioning means lugs 48, 49 in continuation of sidewalls 38, 39 may also be provided to lap over the open side of recess 20. Lugs 46, 47 are apertured as at 50, 51 for receiving therethrough screws 52, 53 (FIG. 4) which secure the strike to jamb 1.

As seen in FIG. 1, strike box 36 is formed so that the junctures 56, '57 between sidewalls 38, 39 and endwall 40 are formed to about the same radius as the bores which formed recess 20. Similarly junctures 58, 59 between sidewalls 38, 39 and endwall 41 are formed to the same radius. The spacing between sidewalls 38, 39 is also predetermined so that box 36 is snugly received in recess 20. It will be apparent from this structure, although clearance exists between the endwalls 40, 41 of box 36 and the semicircular endwalls 34, 35 of recess 20, the box 36 will nevertheless be automatically centered relative to recess 20 with the endwalls 40, 41 equally spaced from the point 25 (FIG. 8) which represents the central axis of the latch bolt. Interference between the latch bolt and the strike box is therefore effectively obviated.

The tool for locating and forming the strike will now be described:

As #best seen in FIG. 5, the tool comprises a body 60 of any suitable material such as resilient plastic provided with a generally rectangular head 61 and a handle portion 62 provided with an end face 63 (FIG. 6) adapted to be struck by a hammer.

On the side of head 61 opposite handle portion 62 there are secured a pair of channel shaped cutters 66, 67. Cutter 66 comprises a web 68 connecting a pair of vertically extending flanges 69, 70 formed with cutting edges. Similarly, cutter 67 comprises a web 72 connecting a pair of horizontally extending flanges 73, 74 also formed with cutting edges. Flanges 73, 74 are slightly deeper than flanges 69, 70 so that when cutters 66, 67 are se- 3 cured together to head 61 the cutting edges thereof are substantially coplanar (FIG. 6).

Flange 70 of cutter 66 is provided with a pair of notches 78, '79 which are spaced apart a distance which indicates to the carpenter the points in mortise 19 at,

which the channel 16 should be cut to accommodate lip 15 of the strike. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8, the notched flange 70 marks colinear line segments 82, 83, 84, and it is a simple matter for the carpenter to cut, with his chisel, the upper side 17 and lower side 18 of the channel portion 16 of mortise 19 which receives lip 15 of strike 14.

It will be noted that the ends of lines 82, 84 define the width of channel 16 and to this end the notches 78, 79 are formed so that ends of said lines are well defined.

In a similar manner flange 69 of cutter 66 is provided with notches 76, 77 which may also be employed for the same function as notches 78, 79 on flange '70. By providing notches on both flanges it is not necessary to hold the tool with any particular side up or down to make the proper cuts. Furthermore, the cuts made by the tool are always correctly positioned regardless of whether the door is left or right hand.

It will be understood that the sharpened upper flange 73 of cutter 67 forms the cut 86 in FIG. 8 and lower flange 74 forms cut 87. 'Flange 69, of course, forms colinear cuts 88, 89, 90. The fact that the cuts defining the mortise 19 are spaced apart slightly does not affect the eflicacy of the tool as it is a simple matter to join up the adjacent cuts by means of a chisel.

Cutters 66, 67 are secured together and to head 61 of body 60 by means of a pair of internally threaded flanged sleeves 94, 95, which are passed through holes 96, 97 in web 68 of cutter 66 and holes 98, 99 in web 72 of cutter 67. A pair of bores 100, 10 1 are formed in head 61 to receive said sleeves and screws 102, 103 are threadedly secured in sleeves 94, 95 from the opposite side of head 61 (FIG. 6).

Before said cutters are secured to head 61, a guide pin 104- and a pair of marking pins 105', 106 are mounted on head 61.

Pin 104 is relatively long and is provided with an enlarged head 108 which is slidably received in an elongated bore 109 in head 61. Also received in bore 109 is a compression spring 110 (FIG. 6) which serves to urge pin 104 outwardly of said bore at all times. Upon assembly of the cutters 66, 67, pin 104 is slidably received through holes 111, 112 in said cutters respectively. Pin 104 is formed to a point 114 at its end opposite its head 108 so as to be received in the indentation formed by the locating tool and which indentation has hereinbefore been described as point 25 in FIG. 8.

In use, it is a simple matter to apply the pointed end of guide pin 104 to the point 25 of FIG. 8 and then urge the cutters 66, 67 against the jamb 1 against the force of spring 110. It is, of course, necessary to line up cutting flanges 69, 70 vertically before striking handle 62 with a hammer, but this is a simple matter because the carpenter has adjacent vertical surfaces as reference planes.

Marking pins 105, 106 are also provided with enlarged heads 116, 117 respectively which are received in bores 118, 119 in head 61. The depth of bores 118, 119 is equal to the length of heads 116, 117 so that said pins.

are firmly secured in said bores. Holes 122, 123 are provided in cutter 66 and holes 124, 125 are provided in 'cutter'67 for receiving said pins 105, 106 therethrough, and the length of said pins is predetermined so that their pointed ends 126, 127 extend slightly beyond the plane of the cutter edges of the cutters 66, 67. In this manner, when the mortise forming cuts are made by the cutters as shown in FIG. 8 indentations at points 26, 27 are also made so that the carpenter has definite marks for posiof screws 102, 103 to indicate the axes of the holes to be drilled by the carpenter for receiving screws 52, 53.

' It will therefore be apparent that the above-described tool will, in one operation, cutjthe jamb for sinking the strike, locate the holes to be bored for forming the recess to receive the strike box, and also locate the screw holes for receiving the screws which; are used to secure the strike to the jamb.

Referring again to FIG. 4 it is seen that forceable removal of strike 14 is resisted, not only by screws 52, 53 but also by the narrow strips 148, 149 of the jamb 1 that remain after the mortise 7 (FIG. 2) is formed. The manner of mortising the strike shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 is therefore desirable for this reason.

The above specific descriptions of the preferred forms of the invention are not to be taken as restrictive of the same as it is obvious that various modifications at to details may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

, We claim:

l. A strike plate mortise form-ing tool comprising: a body provided with a rectangular cutting frame formed with coplanar cutting edges adapted to be embedded in the jamb of a door, a locating element having a pointed outer end andextending outwardly of said body and said cutting edges and slidably disposed in said body, a spring in saidhody for urging said element outwardly thereof at all times,'whereby said frame may be located relative to a point on said jamb by applying the outer end of said element to said point and urging said frame against said jamb against the force of said spring, a pair of marking points carried by said body on opposite sides respectively of said element and adapted to be embedded in said jamb when said cutting edges are forced against said jarrrb.

- 2. A strike plate mortise forming too-l comprising: a body provided with a rectangular cutting frame formed with coplanar cutting edges adapted to be embedded in the-jamb -of a (1003a locating element having a pointed outer end and extending outwardly of said body and said cutting edges and slidably disposed in said body, a spring in said body for urging said element outwardly thereof at all times, whereby said frame may be located relative to a point on said jamb by applying the outer end of said element to said point and urging said frame against said jamb against the force of said spring, a first pair of mark ing points carried by said body on opposite sides respectively of said element and adapted to be embedded in said jamb when said cutting edges are forced against said jamb, and a second pair of marking points carried by said body on opposite sides respectively of said element and outwardly of said first pair for marking the position of screw holes for such strike plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,083,529 Fletcher Ian. 6, 1914 1,646,588 McDowell Oct. 25, 1927 2,422,367 Zuigley June 17, 1947 2,698,636 Schlage Jan. 4, 1955 2,809,440 Schlage Oct. 15, 1957 2,938,554 Schlage May 31, 1960 2,961,773 Honn Nov. 29, 1960 

1. A STRIKE PLATE MORTISE FORMING TOOL COMPRISING: A BODY PROVIDED WITH A RECTANGULAR CUTTING FRAME FORMED WITH COPLANAR CUTTING EDGES ADAPTED TO BE EMBEDDED IN THE JAMB OF A DOOR, A LOCATING ELEMENT HAVING A POINTED OUTER END AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY OF SAID BODY AND SAID CUTTING EDGES AND SLIDABLY DISPOSED IN SAID BODY, A SPRING IN SAID BODY FOR URGING SAID ELEMENT OUTWARDLY THEREOF AT ALL TIMES, WHEREBY SAID FRAME MAY BE LOCATED RELATIVE 